Patriots by position: With Brown a free agent, some question marks on the offensive line

By Mark DanielsThe Providence Journal

Tuesday

Feb 26, 2019 at 8:51 PM

With the 2018 season in the books, the Providence Journal will take a look at each position group on the Patriots, analyzing how the team performed last year and where it might be heading in the future. Today we look at offensive linemen.

Contract situation: The Patriots have their core intact, but are in a similar situation to last offseason.

After Nate Solder left via free agency, the Patriots hit a home run in their trade for Trent Brown. Now, Brown, 25, enters free agency as one of the top left tackles available.

Cannon, their right tackle, is signed through 2021. His cap hit this season rises to $7,456,250. If the Patriots were to release Cannon, they’d save $4,656,250 on their cap. The Pats extended Mason this past year through the 2023 season. The right guard has a cap hit of $7.275 in 2019. That will rise to $8.4 million in 2020 and continues going up after that.

Thuney enters this season in the final year of his rookie contract. The left guard will count for $2,238,357 in 2019. Andrews is signed through 2020. He’ll count for $2.8 million on the 2019 cap and that goes up to $3.8 million the season after that.

Wynn enters 2019 on the second year of his rookie deal and takes up $2,600,433 of the salary cap. He’s signed through 2021, but the Patriots have a 2022 option. Karras’ 2019 cap his is $720,000 and this marks the final year of his contract. Croston will make $645,000 in 2019 and he’ll be a restricted free agent in 2020.

The Patriots signed Schwenke ($735,000 cap hit) this month to a one-year deal. Ferentz ($720,000 cap hit) is in the final year of his contract. The Patriots signed Skipper, Matthews and Eldrenkamp to future contracts.

Waddle, John and Adams will be free agents.

2018 review: The Patriots offensive line was outstanding.

Tom Brady was sacked 21 times in the regular season. That’s the second fewest times he’s been sacked in his career (excluded 2016 when he played 12 games). By comparison, Brady was sacked 35 times in 2017. In the playoffs, the offensive line was even better. Brady was sacked once in three games. He wasn’t touched in the AFC Championship game.

After losing Solder, Brown stepped in and started all 16 games at left tackle. Cannon dealt with some injuries, but started 13 games at right tackle. When he couldn’t play, Waddle stepped up and started three games.

The Patriots interior was intact with Mason at right guard, Andrews at center and Thuney at left guard. Mason missed two games, which Karras stepped in and started. Mason looked like a Pro Bowl guard. He was snubbed, but might not be for much longer.

Andrews and Thuney started every game. Thuney played every snap this past season. The interior of the offensive line was a big strength for the Patriots in 2018. The Pats lost Wynn when he suffered a torn Achilles in the preseason.

The future: The Patriots have a big decision to make at left tackle.

Brown won’t come cheap. The biggest wildcard in this situation is Wynn, the Patriots top pick of the 2018 NFL Draft. Last summer, Wynn was pushing for a spot on the starting offensive line, taking reps at left tackle, right tackle and left guard. Considering how high he was drafted (23rd overall), the Patriots plan to start Wynn.

However, his Achilles injury creates plenty of questions. Had he been healthy, the Patriots likely had their 2019 starting left tackle. With the injury, the team will need some insurance in the event that Wynn has a setback.

They could bring back Waddle, their top swing tackle in 2018. Cannon will turn 31 this season, so the Patriots will need to add more tackle depth. Adding another tackle in the draft for depth would make sense.

Andrews and Mason are locked up for the time being, but the Patriots will likely want to extend Thuney. If they don’t want to spend that kind of money on another guard, they could look in the draft for a future replacement.

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